the driveway was quiet. The couple waiting in the car looked anxious. I signaled them to come over.
“How was the room?” I asked Mara.
“The usual—ripped pantyhose, half-drunk bottle of wine, two-dollar tip. They left this.”
She handed me a small, thin, square red box.
“What is it?”
“Didn’t open it. I was passing by the Roller Coaster Room. The couple in there left the curtain open a crack, and I saw the guy naked standing on top of the bed.”
“I’ll put it here behind the desk. The customer may come back to claim it. You looked into the room?”
“I couldn’t help it. Just as I was walking by, he had his hands in the air like he was on a real roller coaster. Pretty funny.” She laughed.
“The fantasy works well. I’ve already sent the other couple to the Gazebo Room.”
“I saw them; they look young.”
“It could be their first time.”
“I’m going back to the linen room,” she said, still half asleep.
“Take Svetlana with you.”
“Number two is finished in a half hour.”
“Buzz me when you need me.”
“I think the intercom is stuck.”
“I’ll check it,” I said.
It was a good thing Mara liked to hang out in the linen room; the office was small, and I preferred to be left alone to study my magazines for room design ideas. I had been looking at travel journals for ideas about a room with a Caribbean theme. I’d call it “Sunset over the Caribbean.” There were never pictures of Cuba in these American travel journals even though some of the most beautiful beaches could be found there.
Sounded like something crashed in room two. Svetlana heard it and stopped playing with her precious pinecone. I got Mara on the intercom.
“
“Whaaa?”
“It came from room two.”
“Let it be, Stalina.”
“Sounds as if the television fell off the shelf.”
“It’s the house phone, Mara.”
“Answer it,” she said.
“Front desk,” I said into the phone.
A high-pitched, excited woman’s voice said, “This is room two, the damn Roller Coaster Room. Harry’s fallen off your fancy-schmancy bed and hit his head. He’s out cold.”
“Would you like me to call an ambulance?”
“Are you crazy? No hospitals, no doctors!”
“What would you like me to do?”
“I need some ice to put on the giant egg on his head.”
“The ice maker is next to the laundry room. I cannot leave the front desk. I’ll have the maid bring you some,” I told her.
“We can’t go anywhere till Harry wakes up.”
“You have a half hour left on the clock.”
Her voice deepened into a gravelly smoker’s rasp. “He’s out cold. It’s going to be a while.”
“I’ll add another hour to your stay.”
“Shit, Harry, wake up. OK, what time is it?”
“Three forty-five.”
“Harry, what did you do to me?”
“You have until quarter to five. I’ll call you at—” I tried to finish, but from the other end all I heard was
I went back to the intercom.
“Mara, are you there?”
“What happened?”
“The gentleman in room two fell off the bed.”
“Is he dead?”
“They need ice; he’s unconscious. I gave them another hour.”
“I’m not going in there unless she puts some clothes on him.”
“Just hand her the ice through the door.”
“This job sucks. What was in that box?”
“Get the ice. I did not open it.”
“I’ll get the ice,” Mara said peevishly.
If I didn’t push her, she would sleep all day. The red box was sealed on all sides with green tape. Not a very attractive wrapping job. It made no noise when I shook it. I’d wait for Mara; we could open it together. My shift would be over soon, and Mr. Suri would return shortly. I hoped this Harry fellow in room two didn’t take a turn for the worse. Svetlana had gone back to playing with her pinecone.
That noisy crow was always hanging out in the trees. Svetlana was tiny compared to that bird.
The crow didn’t frighten Svetlana away with all her yelling. I wondered if the kitten was deaf. Mr. Suri was coming up the drive in his Delta ’88. He always took the corner so quickly. The smell of burnt rubber from the tires made me feel warm and happy for his arrival, but I got nervous for the cat because he never watched out for her. I’d get her while I still could.
“Sveta! Svetlana! That’s a good kitten. I’ll bring a pinecone into the linen room for you.”
“Don’t worry, Miss Crow, I won’t hurt your kitten. Svetlana, you are light as a bug. No belly yet. Can you hear that noisy crow?”
I thought she heard fine, she just didn’t seem to mind the crow’s ranting. Svetlana was very scrawny and infested with fleas when I found her. Seeing her reminded me that whenever my mother saw a kitten like that, she would say, “We ate even the skinny ones during the siege.”
The Siege of Leningrad was a big part of my childhood.
Chapter Nine: Camp Flora
My city was under siege, and I was sent away. The nine hundred days they cut her off from the world took its toll on my mother.
It was 1941, and Leningrad was having a very warm spring. I was little, only six years old. My parents dressed me in a heavy wool overcoat that was much too big and smelled of mothballs. I threw it off. My mother put it on me again, lifted me in her arms, and looked me straight in the eye. Her breath was warm and smelled of tobacco. She said nothing, but her nose touched mine. Her eyes got wide, and then she shut them tight. I could hear the wooden wheels of the flatbed peddler’s carts along the cobblestones downstairs. My father took me from my mother and touched his hand to my face. The high-pitched squeals of the children on the carts came up through our front windows. I wanted to be brave, so I shut my eyes tight to keep from crying. My father put me on his shoulder and walked me downstairs while I heard my mother stand up, knocking over a chair. I opened my
